


sea shanties, on winds and breezes

by Scribblurri



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Gen, Loyalty, Nakamaship, Short stories collection, but hey! That's what practice is for, just some short stories n stuff, ngl some of these im not too proud of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:34:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26256463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scribblurri/pseuds/Scribblurri
Summary: Some One Piece character writing for prompts, all thanks to the Its Pirates Discord server :D
Relationships: All platonic baby, None
Comments: 7
Kudos: 25





	1. Sanji, smoke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers up to the end of WCI

The scent of smoke follows Sanji around constantly, and he knows smoke isn't some kind thing. Smoke is cruel and has you by the throat before you remember to breathe until you can't, and steadily, it catches up and sears you from the inside.

The shitty old man would always yell at him saying it would ruin his sense of taste, and maybe one or two times Nami-san would stare at how many times she'd seen him pull out another cigarette right after the previous was done, and maybe sometimes Luffy would tilt his head but never comment on it, and seas know how many times Chopper has lectured him on how cigarettes would ruin his lungs, and really, Sanji knows all that.

As a child, it wasn't an uncommon thing for him. Smoke was always somewhere nearby, whether it was from his cooking attempts or new tested technology. He remembers it just about everywhere in the air at the time he ran away, thick and dark and consuming and scary and just about digging its claws around his throat. But his family didn't find him (didn't drag him back, didn't pound him onto the floor, didn't lock him up behind bars, didn't even want him back, as he ran into the smoke) so he's plenty grateful for that.

He remembers it when he's stuck on a ship with people he doesn't exactly know, but they welcome him and he gets to cook, so it's almost friendly, and he doesn't mind.

He remembers it when that ship is sinking, and soon he's underwater and he can't breathe, and the world is black.

He thinks about it when he's stranded with no food, and hunger claws at his insides and clings to his body like a ball and chain, and he starts to think that even the searing burn of smoke would feel better than the way hunger eats away at him from the inside and out.

He tries it on a whim (smoking, that is), maybe just to spite the shitty old man, and as the hunger burns out, some part of him thinks that smoke itself has been the kindest part of his life so far.

He kind of wants to take that back when some idiot slings a cannonball into the shitty geezer's treasure, and smoke fills their precious restaurant with its grungy scent and ash. And even later, as the treasure is going up in flames, and Sanji feels like the smoke is taking this place away from him, the idiot grins a stupid, scar-faced smile, and wrecks it even more.

Then the man he now calls his captain says, "Join my crew!" and Sanji is dumbfounded. He takes the hand and presses onward and thinks to himself, the smoke gives and takes as it pleases.

The smoke lingers on the battlefield where the sniper lies, beaten down, and their captain walks away, and their archaeologist has turned their back and disappeared into the ashes. It's taken parts of his family now, and it's a truly terrifying thing.

It's the most satisfying sight Sanji's ever seen, watching Enies Lobby go up in ashes and smoke, and the smoke grants them their dear archaeologist back and covers them as they fall, back down to the seas (back down to Merry, back down to home).

(Merry goes up in smoke, soon after that, and the smoke has taken yet more away, Sanji thinks.)

It has taken away everything that ever mattered, Sanji thinks, as he looks down at the newspaper crinkling in his hands, and sees his captain broken amidst ashes and smoldering flames and blood.

It hurts him more than anything, as his captain stands before him with burning defiance, and the smell of burnt rubber is singed into Sanji's senses. But Sanji strikes again and again, and his captain falls to the floor, and Sanji cries, and the smoke has only pulled him away from his true family and back into hell. It should have been easier this way, right? The smoke just has to take him, and nobody else, and everyone could be fine that way, right?

(He tells himself that it's fine.

He believes it, until he realizes that they won't let him go.)

But his captain doesn't think about such things, probably, because he gets beaten up, and even still, he sits, and starves, and waits for Sanji, and smiles, like it didn't even matter what was taken away in the first place as long as he got it back, and Sanji falls apart with every ounce of his being, wishing to the smoke,  _ guide me back home, to the people I love and the people who love me. _

They escape amidst the rising smoke, and the smoke takes away one last thing; their helmsman, even after the reunion they had been waiting so long for. But their captain just stands strong, and says to come back no matter what, and just maybe, it's not as bad this time. It's not, because their helmsman  _ will  _ come back, and their family will see to it that no matter what the smoke takes away, they will bring it back.

As Sanji stands on their Thousand Sunny, even for how he's wished for it, he feels like a stranger in this place that he tried so badly to turn his back on. The scent of smoke still lingers, Sanji thinks, even for the time he's been gone, and it comes to him, dragging him from his place on the deck, and steadily walks him to the kitchen door.

He opens it, and for all that it's taken, the smoke guides him back home.


	2. Dadan, distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers up to the end of Goa Kingdom

Dadan remembers there was a time when there was nothing she wanted more than distance. Distance from marines, from corrupt officials, from annoying Mayor Woop Slap and even sweet, kind Makino; from bratty children and promises and legacies and secrets that had nothing to do with her. Just herself and her bandits; that was all she needed to get by.

Looking down at the newspaper, she sees a child (her child) alone and crying out to the world. 

(There used to be two more, and the distance between all of them has never been larger.)

She remembers there was a time when there was nothing she wanted more than distance.

(She can't remember what it felt like anymore; not when the mountain is silent, and the forest's roof doesn't rustle with footsteps on branches, and the rocks don't have the slight scent of steel pipes, and the house doesn't have the sound of tossing and turning children in the night.)

Not when all she could wish for is that they were within reach.


	3. Nami, ink

Nami's ink runs like blood through her veins, and it used to be a thought she hated more than anything.

Initially, it was something she was proud of; like proof that she had a dream and could lay it out on paper, and every drop of ink marking every edge of the precious island she called home was something she could feel pride in. Then Arlong came, and every clean line she drew felt dirty; polluted. She'd need to bleed herself out for the sake of the fishmen who stole everything from her, and that dreadful tower would only grow taller and taller, or maybe more towers would be built, and it would be her fault, because she let herself shed blood tainted by that tattoo.

But she learned to cut her losses. If she were nothing more than a discarded pen, what would it matter? As long as Nojiko and Gen didn't need to dye their blood black as she had, as long as she was the only one who was dirty, that was fine. That first map she drew was the only thing that mattered; the only thing in her life that she could be proud of. 

As far as Nami cared, the rest of her maps could burn, and the world itself could too, as long as Cocoyashi was fine.

When she sees the gold of straw, the glint of shining steel, she gets close and soaks the brilliance in, and almost reaches out; to the first clean treasures that have ever come to her.

Then she sees that wanted poster, and remembers she doesn't have the liberty of being clean.

All her money is already dirty with blood; so those treasures aren't hers. Not when they have dreams and will too pure for her to taint. She'll chase them away, like hiding a small amount of treasure for herself, (but they aren't hers. They never will be, and never should be.) Then she's told that her shed blood means nothing, that no one can be saved, and the world falls to pieces and leaves a knife in her hands. 

That's what she thinks, until she's given a straw hat (crown) of gold (her own small piece of treasure), and all at once, the group of dreams and treasures marches to the tower.

All the ink and blood she has shed onto paper rains down from the sky, and the tower collapses to the ground; the air, sky, and ocean feel so much less polluted.

The boy yells out to her, and Nami realizes that even if she didn't want to call them hers, they would still call her theirs. She sheds tears that she hasn't let herself feel in so long and lets herself be taken to the ocean, and on the clear blue waves, it feels like she can finally be clean again.

Nami has never before been given so much treasure she can't even hold in her hands, but now they're all hers, and she's all theirs, and she's never been more proud of the ink in her veins; to be able to bleed for her family.


	4. Zoro, unfair

Zoro, from the night he'd made a promise with Kuina, always had one thought deep in the back of his mind: that life was unfair. He worked his ass off training day after day, to become better and better (to become the best swordsman), more than anyone else, and he did. He could beat anyone and everyone else, from kids older than himself to even adults. All except for Kuina, but that wasn't really unfair. After all, Kuina did too. But apparently, it mattered that Kuina was a girl, and Sensei had told her as much. Told her that she'd fall behind soon because she was a girl, and Zoro thinks,  _ unfair. _ Unfair, that this person who was his entire goal called him lucky to be a man and had a look on her face like that, when she had just pounded him into the grassy floor, sword at his neck. Ugly pressure builds in his throat and tears build in his eyes until they spill over, and he wails and screams it out loud- if you say it like that, then does it mean nothing that I struggle to grow? To catch up to my goal? To you? And soon as he does, her face freezes before giving a bittersweet smile and melancholic laugh, and tears stream down her face too. So then they make a promise; it has to be one of them, it has to be-

_ Unfair _ , he thinks, seeing her body laid down, face covered, the day right after. The twisting, writhing pettiness in him cries out that she ran away (unfair),  _ she ran away and gave up _ \- (unfair), and funny, really, he had thought it was unfair, and yet he had blamed her for leaving rather than the world for taking her. But empty excuses are empty excuses, and they only hit the ground and are buried and forgotten. 

It has to be him.

So without complaint, with no hitch, he trains.

Then he's in Shells Town, and some spoiled rich kid gets to walk around a restaurant and let his dog attack people; and somehow a little girl needs to take the blame for trying to help customers eat a peaceful meal. (Unfair.) So he kills the dog and takes the blame, because better him than some little girl. (Unfair.) Thoughts run rampant when he's stuck to a pole, nothing to do but starve and wait. (Unfair. But he'll get through it.)

Then he sees a straw hat and a smile like he's never known hardship, and Monkey D. Luffy takes many bullets for him before blackmailing him into joining his currently one-member pirate crew.

Obviously, unfair. (But maybe not in the same way.) 

It's not loyalty (not yet), just a poorly held deal (a poorly made promise), because what do those mean, anyway? (What do promises mean anyway, when they're so fragile and broken so easily, so unfairly?) The boy speaks of promises too; a wild promise to become the Pirate King over a worn straw hat. Zoro wonders if it really means much.

He comes face to face with the strongest swordsman in the world, and before he knows it, his old, writhing pettiness catches up with him. The world must just be unfair, for the gap to be this big- their dream couldn't have been  _ this _ far off- unfair, unfair,  _ unfair _ -

And Monkey D. Luffy stares unwaveringly at him, and Zoro thinks,  _ Ah. _ He'd underestimated this world, hadn't he? He'd underestimated his captain, too. It's not as if he's ever expected life to be fair. But as Luffy stares and watches as he was asked to do, Zoro thinks this person really couldn't care less about fair or unfair. This person has seen it all and taken it in stride, even smiling like he's never known hardship. The ugly pressure and tears come back again, but Zoro doesn't bother trying to cover his face this time.

He raises his sword and pledges his loyalty to the man who will be the King of the Pirates.

He's dragged into scuffle after scuffle, by his selfish, unfair captain.

He doesn't mind it in the least. He's long forgotten why it mattered in the first place.


	5. Robin, mislead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place post canon!

The blinding sun shines just as bright as Robin had remembered it back then. Guilt twists in her gut just remembering it, even with her nakama's hands on her shoulders and their doctor's hoof at her back.

The figure standing on the sandy-hilled outskirts doesn't seem to mind the rampaging wind in the least- just keeps waving her arms wildly while wearing an excited smile possibly only rivaled by her captain's; that's an achievement of its own, and that's also why Robin finds it incredibly misleading.

Robin is used to getting misled. Knew it and learned to recognize it, from when her mother turned her back on her to the first time she was taken in only to be handed off for her bounty. So she would do the same back to them. She'd live and backstab and betray and hurt, the same way they all did to her. Robin hadn't ever thought of the people she hurt, not really. Not  _ truly _ .

(Because why should she when they had always done worse? That was what she told herself. When had any Marine or government official ever felt bad about burning her precious Ohara from the history it had treasured so much? Never. Because Ohara would never be found or known ever again, and anyone who helped burn it in the first place certainly wouldn't care.

(As would come to happen, that list only grew. 

Who felt bad for taking a poor girl's blood-stained life savings and simply looked away from the looming, miserable tower? Who felt bad for the child who had his creations turned against him- who had his father figure taken away and killed, and blamed himself for it every passing day? Who felt bad for the man who was locked up just for having a moral compass on the precipice of war?

Who felt bad for burning Grey Terminal and the  _ human beings _ that were considered its trash? For tearing three brothers apart, leaving one directionless, one dead, and one alone in the world for two years?

Ironically enough, a crew calling themselves pirates did; and they weren't at fault at all.)

It didn't matter to her that the country of Alabasta had to suffer hardship upon hardship; not when Ohara had burned to smithereens within less than a day. 

(That was the person she was back then, after all. That was before she had met Monkey D. Luffy and had her every expectation trampled; before she had learned love and to be loved, learned family and to be family, and screamed aloud and realized that she had wanted to  _ live.) _

And yet-

The duck levels a glare in her direction, and the girl must sense it, because without even turning around, still waving her arms, she scolds, "Carue, don't be rude."

And yet…

"Hey!!! We missed you!" Luffy yells with a bright smile on his face, and Nami, Sanji, and Chopper seem almost ready to burst into tears of happiness.

And yet here she is, back here again, as the Princess of Alabasta stands mere meters from the boat, distance growing ever-shorter.

(She withers a little.)

Robin had always thought she acknowledged what she had done; and for the most part, she had. She'd lied, misled, backstabbed, betrayed, and hurt, all as she had sworn to never feel any guilt for doing so. But looking at the Princess of Alabasta, (Miss Wednesday, the more spiteful part of her mind says,) who she had seen and looked down upon, at the first face she's really needed to confront again (not that she'd really feel bad if it were anyone else anyway,) she keeps a tight smile. (It might fall apart if she doesn't keep it that way.)

(Does she have the right to put on a smile in front of this person?)

The Thousand Sunny pulls up close to the edge of the island, and the first thing the Princess does is walk a few steps back.

Before taking a running leap onto the boat.

She soars through the air and nails the landing without a hitch, heels clicking on the wooden deck with a solid following  _ thud _ . The duck had jumped too, at the same time- much less graceful, with the clumsy, uneven beat of large wings, but he lands nonetheless, and the crew is  _ ecstatic _ as they gather around. Nami exudes an aura of pride, shrieking and clapping and running over to drag the Princess into a hug. Sanji is rushing back into the kitchen to set the table, Chopper clings to the frills of the Princess's dress and chokes out,  _ I'm not happy, you bastard! _ between sobs, Usopp throws his arms in the air and does a little dance with the duck, Zoro grins a wider smirk than Robin has seen in a while, and Luffy throws his arms wide, dragging the lot of them into a tighter, rubber-bound hug.

Franky and Brook still stand beside Robin, hands on her shoulders. One is mechanical and the other is bony- neither is especially comforting, aside from Jinbe's at her back- he'd shifted forward as soon as Chopper ran off.

"Ah! Lemme introduce you to everyone-" Luffy exclaims, trying to unravel his arms only to realize that they're stuck. The Princess laughs, Zoro sighs with a hand on his forehead, and everyone else is too busy clinging to the Princess to really care.

"Just let them introduce themselves," Zoro says.

"What? Awwww, but I wanted to do it-"

"Haha, I don't mind either way!" The smile is still bright, even as sharp eyes scan the crowd standing back and meet her own, and Robin is * _ unnerved _ .* She can't tell if she should be smiling like the princess is or not.

Their shipwright sees the conflict on her face, and pushes forward before Robin can move. (Not that she would have, anyway.) 

"Yo, miss Vivi! I'm SUPEEEER Franky, the Strawhat crew's shipwright! This here's our amazing Thousand Sunny, carrying on the Going Merry's spirit!" The Princess looks struck by that; like she had expected something to happen but didn't want to believe it. He strikes his usual unusual pose, and the Princess laughs wholeheartedly. The duck tries to imitate the pose too, and now everyone else is laughing. (All except for Robin.) Franky promises her a tour of the Thousand Sunny as soon as they're done catching up, and she happily agrees.

Almost immediately, Brook walks forward next, and the Princess doesn't even flinch seeing a skeleton in person. "Yohohoho! Salutations, Vivi-san," Brook takes off his hat and does a small bow, "my name is Dead Bones Brook! I am the Strawhat crew's musician! I truly treasure this family with all my heart- ah, not that I have one, yohoho!" The Princess laughs at the joke- it sounds so genuine (and fake at the same time, but maybe that's just Robin.)

"Greetings, Princess Vivi," Jinbe begins, ever formal, "I am Jinbe, the helmsman and newest member of the Strawhat Pirates." The Princess's eyes linger on the bright, crimson sun marking his chest for just a second, and her smile tightens the slightest bit before relaxing.

Sanji ushers the rest of their family into the kitchen to eat the meal he'd prepared ahead of time, and shoots a smile at her and one at the Princess before turning away. The princess returns the smile- Robin does too; she's choking on her words too much to do anything else.

"Hello," Robin tries, and the words don't sound right; not like herself at all. "I'm Nico Robin, the archaeologist of the Strawhats, but you already knew that," 

"You can smile normally, you know," the girl says, and some part of Robin stops cold. "And- you were probably referring to me as Princess in your head, yes? Just call me Vivi!" And the Princess- no, Vivi- Vivi stares directly into Robin's eyes. There's uncertainty, maybe, but not hate. Not spite, not vengeance, not anything Robin had expected at all. Rather, her face is almost in a  _ pout. _

_ Ah.  _

_ She and our captain are very alike, no? _

Robin lets out a sigh. A longsuffering sigh, that really just sounds more like a short breath, because she had been misleading herself all along.

"Good afternoon, Princess Vivi of Alabasta." Really, she does it on purpose, and Vivi splutters while laughing, "Oh my  _ gods _ , stop-"

Robin, for the first time that day, laughs. It's small, more like a giggle, really, yet it feels like pire catharsis, and relief and joy bubble up so genuinely that Robin doesn't really feel like herself. She thinks about her crew- how they were here for her, supporting her all the way, letting her take her time; how they hadn't worried about it in the least.

"That's just what they do for people like us, you know?" Vivi says, and there's just something about her face, the most graceful shit-eating grin on her face Robin has ever seen, that drags out another laugh.

"Yes, it very much is," Robin says fondly. "I know that now." It's very offhand and unlike Robin, yet she already finds the words flowing out: 

"Would you like to hear the story of the time we went to the sky, Miss Vivi?"


	6. Usopp, fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers up to Dressrosa

Usopp is used to falling. Falling on his ass after pulling a prank and getting chased, falling out of a tree after visiting Kaya-

He's never liked the feeling of it, though.

(The feeling of not being in control, of flailing and only reaching air- not knowing how to land, or if it would ever end-

all you could do was brace yourself for impact.)

(And what did that ever help?)

Then he watches Monkey D. Luffy fall off a cliff and wake up later, totally fine.

Watches Zoro get sent flying and then fall down square on his back, and he gets up just fine once he's recovered.

(He wishes he could be like them too.)

They fall, fall, fall from Skypiea, and it's the most terrifying thing Usopp has ever experienced.

Nami and Chopper say they're scared too, and sure, they are. (But their legs never shake like his do. They shudder when it happens, but never from just thinking about it.)

The only one he feels shudder with him, alongside him, as they all fall together-

is Merry.

Merry, with her poor, creaking body, having to come in form of a person to fix herself up the best she can.

Luffy says Merry can't keep going anymore. Usopp fiercely denies it. (Because who else, who else can he feel scared with when falling? Who can he fall with, and know that if ~~his~~ this crew catches one, they'll catch the other?)

(If they ~~can't~~ won't save Merry, they won't save Usopp. It's as simple as that.)

\---

In Enies Lobby, Luffy falls to the ground, and doesn't get up, and Usopp thinks he can see the fear in Luffy's eyes from far away. Strange, that he's never been able to see it up close.

Oh, because-

He does not fear falling for himself.

Even with his eyes on his opponent, his gaze is somehow far away, only on his crew. Because if Luffy falls, the dangers reach his crew, and Usopp realizes.

Usopp doesn't fear the fall; he fears the impact. He fears the pain of impact, but as long as he can, he'll get up later. Maybe it takes days or weeks later, but he'll get up.

But Luffy fears the fall, because- if he falls at the wrong time, who stops Kuro? Arlong? Wapol? Crocodile? Enel? Lucci?

Of course Luffy fears falling; just not in the same way. Because if Luffy falls to fear and clings to Merry the same way Usopp did, everyone would go down with him.

~~ And ah, Usopp is the blind fool. He always has been. ~~

They fall, fall, fall to the seas below, to home, to  _ Merry _ , and she shudders under her crew's every step upon her creaking floorboards.

(She can't take anymore, Usopp knows.)

And Usopp thinks, there's nothing else they can do for her; she'll be ~~falling~~ sinking and sinking to the cold, dark seafloor, fallen apart, just like this-

But kind, fearless (fearful) Luffy says, "We're going to see you off, Merry," and soon she is engulfed in warm, bright flames.

(Seeing that, Usopp cries. Because Luffy would never let anyone fall all alone if he could help it. Really, Usopp was the one that was going to let everyone else fall alone; without him there to support them and cover their backs.

Was going to leave them,  _ tried to _ , even, but- he won't make that mistake anymore. Never again.)

The next time he falls-

The next time any of them fall-

They'll be there, falling alongside one another, catching one another.


	7. Brook, bones

Sometimes, Brook hates that bones are all that's left. They aren't enough to do anything; not enough to receive warmth, to give warmth, to keep people close, to keep children from crying- he hates that when he looks around, all that remains are bones-

"Brook!" his captain yells, "Get inside!" Brook doesn't quite hear the words- he thinks it might just be him, anyway, so he doesn't listen. Walking inside to halls that creak on their own wouldn't be any good- he might mistake them for footsteps. Brook doesn't even turn his head, just keeps staring.

That is, until Brook is knocked flying backwards by something slingshotted straight into him, and the impact leaves Brook nonplussed. He tilts his head just downward to look, and- Ah.

"Brook!" Luffy says from his place sprawled out on Brook's lap, "I said to get inside! It's foggy so someone else should take watch today!"

"Ah. Yes, captain," Brook says, and moves to get up. Luffy slides off and stares at him for a bit, and there's no disgust, no hatred, for something as empty and hollow as he is, but Brook feels awfully melancholic and for the love of him can't think of something to say that wouldn't bring down the mood even more.

Luffy tilts his head, but doesn't say anything, then grabs Brook's bony hand in his and holds it tightly- like it's something not rigid and uncomfortable, even. Luffy walks and drags, and so Brook follows, and they end up in the Sunny's aquarium room.

Brook stares off into the tank of blue, and thinks of a certain, precious whale, and  _ right _ , there are still things left. There are more things he's gained, and there are even more things to be found. Luffy plops himself back onto Brook's lap, and the boy is weight on his legs that almost feels like warmth.

Luffy starts to hum Bink's Sake, and Brook is okay with that. He joins in. It carries warmth in its own way, as he listens, and now Brook feels slightly silly. For his captain to be here, unminding and smiling and happy, for his music and his dream to still be living, his body of bones is more than enough.


	8. Marco, wish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Actually, Marco is one of the characters I feel less comfortable with writing? So i took the oppotunity to try writing a poem instead!
> 
> (Fun fact: I don't write poems either, so it's probably not great XD)

Wishing for hope  
on promises of home and family  
on more hopes, more dreams, more horizons  
(more promises)  
does nothing 

not for blood, nor smoldering flames  
nor quaking earth, nor shivering sky  
not scorn, or forgetfulness  
(or promises broken, of a dead flame)  
nothing at all 

like wishing on stars  
but why on stars that fall?  
down, down, down to the earth  
to be buried under ashes 

even phoenixes don't get to wish  
only live, and burn hope, and scatter into dust, and live to burn hope once more 

even when the flame is extinguished  
swallowed, extinguished, buried under cross  
earth dyed red  
still hoping  
for golden sunrises, brighter smiles, for merry skies and a thousand sunny seas  
just hoping  
just wishing


End file.
